20 Yr Old Pakistani Usman Riaz Is Chosen By TEDGlobal 2012

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Usman Riaz is fast becoming a house-hold name across the world. The musical boy genius from Pakistan is a regular fixture in the Pakistani musical scene and has received accolades from his peers who have described the 20something as a maestro.

Usman Riaz is fast becoming a house-hold name across the world. The musical boy genius from Pakistan is a regular fixture in the Pakistani musical scene and has received accolades from his peers who have described the 20something as a maestro.

Now Usman’s genius is not only recognized locally, but he has been named as one of the nineteen people from around the world to be a part of TED Fellows.

TED is a nonprofit organization which is devoted to support world-changing ideas. Their motto, ‘ideas worth spreading’ well captures the thought behind the conference which was organized in California some 25 years ago. In the past speakers like Bill Gates, Al Gore, Sir Richard Branson, Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as hundreds of others have been chosen to speak at the TED conference. Fellows are usually given 18 minutes to speak, their talks are later made available fat TED.com. Every year, TEDGlobal is held in Edinburgh, Scotland during the summers.

Tom Rielly is the director of the TED fellows program and he had this to say:

“The 19 Fellows who make up the 2012 TEDGlobal class have already demonstrated breathtaking accomplishment.”

“All of them are at dramatic inflection points in their careers, and we hope to help them accelerate their progress, no matter what their domain.”

As part of the nineteen chosen fellows, Usman Riaz will be travelling to Edinburgh in June this year. With participants from over 17 countries, Usman’s name is amongst neuroscientist, engineers, mathematicians and innovators among many others. The others who made the TEDGlobal 2012 fellow list are:

Ivana Gadjanski (Serbia) – Neuroscientist + poet Serbian neuroscientist, tissue engineer and poet studying how cells translate mechanical stimuli into biological signals in order to repair damaged tissue, and investigating how poetry can be used in scientific research.

Joel Jackson (UK | Kenya) – Auto innovator British mobility entrepreneur and founder of Mobius Motors, a Kenya-based company designing and manufacturing a first-of-its-kind affordable vehicle made expressly for the unique customer requirements and often-poor road conditions found in the developing world.

Elaine Ng Yan Ling (UK | China) – Smart materials artist + designer British artist and designer, currently based in China, exploring the function of natural shape-memory materials and how the behavior of natural elements can be incorporated in manmade materials for architecture and interior design.

Alexander McLean (UK | Uganda) – African prison activist Founder of African Prisons Project, a Uganda-based organization working to improve the lives of men, women, and children living in African prisons through healthcare, education, access to justice and community reintegration.

Ed Ou (Canada | Taiwan) – Photojournalist Award-winning Canadian photojournalist whose work focuses on stories from the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, Africa and the Americas. He is currently working on a project documenting youth across the Arab Spring.

Bel Pesce (Brazil | US) ¬– Entrepreneur + innovator Brazilian entrepreneur and co-founder of Lemon, a tech start-up that helps users collect and store paper and email receipts in one place so they can throw away the paper, keep the important stuff, and see their money in a new way.